Brett Brown gets four-year contract to coach 76ers

Published: Wednesday, Aug. 14, 2013 6:42 p.m. CDT

(MCT) PHILADELPHIA — The hiring has been broken down in detail, and now it's official.

The 76ers formally introduced Brett Brown as their new coach on Wednesday in a news conference at the Fargo Center. Brown agreed to a four-year, guaranteed deal Monday morning. Terms of the contract were not disclosed.

Brown, who had been a longtime San Antonio Spurs assistant, replaces Doug Collins, who resigned on April 18. The 52-year-old becomes the Sixers' eighth coach since Larry Brown resigned after the 2002-03 season.

Brown said he is excited about "the direction (Sixers general manager) Sam (Hinkie) and the owners are going to take the team. You are excited to be a part of the rebuild."

He takes over a squad that finished a disappointing 34-48 last season. Several players have moved on.

Some of the more notable departures are point guard Jrue Holiday (Memphis) via a trade and swingman Dorrell Wright (Portland), swingman Nick Young (Los Angeles Lakers), and center Andrew Bynum (Cleveland) in free agency. Bynum, who has chronically injured knees, never played for the Sixers after the former Lakers all-star was acquired in a four-team trade last August.

Brown must rebuild with a team that will have two rookies _ center Nerlens Noel and point guard Michael Carter-Williams _ as the faces of the franchise.

"He has a real passion for player development," Hinkie said," and he share a lot of the values important to me and our owners."

But as a renowned skill-development coach, the native of South Portland, Maine, has been coveted by the Sixers for some time.

Brown held an unofficial post with the Spurs during their NBA championship season in 1998-99. He rejoined coach Gregg Popovich's San Antonio staff in July 2002 as an assistant coach/director of player development. Brown moved to the bench as an assistant coach before the 2006-07 season.

As the Spurs' player-development coach, he was credited with refining and improving specific aspects of players' games during individual workouts. Brown worked with Hedo Turkoglu on three-point shooting, Bruce Bowen on his pull-up jumper, and Rasho Nesterovic on his defensive spacing and rebounding.

Brown also had a hand in the development of NBA all-star point guard Tony Parker, whose scoring average went from 9.2 to 15.5 points per game during the first season he worked with him.